Reign in Blood

Heavy metal has always provided fertile ground for folks who enjoy sniffing around for negativity and bad influences, but seldom has one band provided more of a mother lode than this Los Angeles aggregation. While Slayer's earlier albums certainly packed punch -- thanks to the frenzied guitar playing of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman -- the band didn't reach its full,

Overview

Heavy metal has always provided fertile ground for folks who enjoy sniffing around for negativity and bad influences, but seldom has one band provided more of a mother lode than this Los Angeles aggregation. While Slayer's earlier albums certainly packed punch -- thanks to the frenzied guitar playing of Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman -- the band didn't reach its full, fearsome potential until production whiz Rick Rubin joined them for this 1986 set. Fueled by hatred and morbidity (the word "death" crops up dozens of times on songs that obsess over mass murder, abortion, and all manner of human ugliness), frontman Tom Araya wails like some netherworld evangelist, his incantations proving both haunting and incendiary. A decade and a half on, Slayer still haven't scaled the harrowing heights of "Angel of Death" (a deadpan take on Nazi war criminal Joseph Mengele) and "Raining Blood," but no one else has topped them, either.

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Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Steve Huey

Widely considered the pinnacle of speed metal, Reign in Blood is Slayer's undisputed masterpiece, a brief (under half an hour) but relentless onslaught that instantly obliterates anything in its path and clears out just as quickly. Producer Rick Rubin gives the band a clear, punchy sound for the first time in its career, and they largely discard the extended pieces of Hell Awaits in favor of lean assaults somewhat reminiscent of hardcore punk (though distinctly metallic and much more technically demanding). Reign in Blood opens and closes with slightly longer tracks (the classics "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood") whose slower riffs offer most of the album's few hints of melody. Sandwiched in between are eight short (all under three minutes), lightning-fast bursts of aggression that change tempo or feel without warning, producing a disjointed, barely controlled effect. The album is actually more precise than it sounds, and not without a sense of groove, but even in the brief slowdowns, the intensity never lets up. There may not be much variation, but it's a unified vision, and a horrific one at that. The riffs are built on atonal chromaticism that sounds as sickening as the graphic violence depicted in many of the lyrics, and Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman's demented soloing often mimics the screams of the songs' victims. It's monstrously, terrifyingly evocative, in a way that transcends Reign in Blood's metal origins. The album almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre (at least on the American side of the Atlantic), and unlike many of its imitators, it never crosses the line into self-parodic overkill. Reign in Blood was a stone-cold classic upon its release, and it hasn't lost an ounce of its power today.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Very very clear is the best HARD METAL ever made, YEEEEAAAAAAAWWWW!!! I got no a favorite song, all the album is a JEWEL!!!

Guest

More than 1 year ago

...Are they correct? The answer is yes. I bought Reign in Blood the day it was released. I was in 8th grade, and it was well before their main stream popularity. This recording proved to be an anthem for my entire junior high school. To this day, there is no record that incorporates such raw energy and melodic creativity. The only other thrash metal record that is its equal is Metallica's Kill 'em All. Show No Mercy is pretty close as well. Buy it, blast it, and piss off everyone around you.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

What a piece of work is Reign in Blood: in conception, how diabolic; in execution, how furious; in lyricism, how paranoiac; in sound, how brutal; in speed, how extreme; in violence, how pitiless. Any serious thrash fan needs to give this a listen.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

I love Slayer, mostly cuz they're Satanists, like me.

The_Beastlord_Slavedragon

More than 1 year ago

Night will come and I will follow. All my victims know tommorrow. Make it fast your time of sorrow. On this trial I'll make you follow.
Awaiting the hour destined to die here on the table of hell. A figure in white unknown by man approaches the altar of death. Offirice awaiting dagger in hand spilling the superflupus blood. Satan's small ceremonial death answers his every command. Death will come easy. Just close your eyes. Think of the friends you will see. Heavenly failure losing again. Move on to a new form of life. Altar of sacrifice curse of the dammned resurgence of the evil you dread. Coalesce into one your own shadow and soul. Soon you will meet the undead.
Modualistic terror. A vast sadistic feast. There's only one way out of here. Piece by piece. ------ Tom Araya------.
The Slavedragon he maketh no communt further.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

slayer is the best! so dark and heavy!!!! i like all the songs. this is the best speed metal cd of all time!!!!!!!!!

Guest

More than 1 year ago

This is the best Speed Metal gruop ever. This is there best one ever. SLAYER RULES

Guest

More than 1 year ago

This was the first Slayer album I bought. I was blown away. The songs were grusome and faster than anythinmg else I've ever heard. The fastest songs are "Jesus Saves" and "Reborn". My favorite song is "Angel Of Death". BUY NOW

Guest

More than 1 year ago

Very fast tracks but too simple! And message is boring just hell,hell,hell!

Guest

More than 1 year ago

This is my favorite speed metal album record of all time, right next to venom Black Metal. Play this album at mind sheering volume, it will blow you away.

Guest

More than 1 year ago

What needs to be said..? This is the ultimate "THRASH" "SPEED" "DEATH" Metal album ever!! Just pop it in ,and Feel The Agression!!! And Lombardo..is A GOD!!!